Hospital services review
Deputy Carthy asked for a review of services in Monaghan, Cavan and Drogheda hospitals in light of Covid-19 restrictions and past service cuts. The Taoiseach rejected the premise, stressing modern clinical criteria for safe services before the Chair ended Questions on Promised Legislation.
This is my first opportunity to congratulate the Taoiseach and his family on his appointment. Go n-éirí an t-ádh libh. The Taoiseach was previously Minister for Health and his legacy in my county of Monaghan is that he was one of a successive line of Ministers who oversaw the removal of services from our local hospital. In view of the Covid-19-related restrictive measures that will have to be applied at emergency departments in Drogheda and Cavan and in hospitals throughout the State, will the Taoiseach ensure that the Government reviews the services that are offered and services that have been removed at hospitals? We should be aiming for a restoration and development of services such as accident and emergency services at hospitals like Monaghan.
Comment on this
I am not going to go through the mythology the Deputy articulated at the commencement of his question. I remember the decisions made by the North Eastern Health Board and we have come a long way in medicine since then. Very often now, it is the colleges of the various clinical specialties which determine the critical mass that justifies and sustains, for example, a maternity unit or an emergency department.
Gone are the days when politicians claim we should have an emergency department without any reference to the medical wherewithal that is required to sustain it and make it safe. That is an ongoing battle between the political world and the medical world as medicine advances. That said, our aim for acute and emergency cover in the north west, particularly with Covid-19, is to do everything we possibly can to develop capacity within respective hospitals, and short-term capacity in particular, because there will be pressure on emergency departments. We cannot operate at 95% occupancy during the flu season with the potential of Covid with us as well and, therefore, the HSE is looking at how it can either procure or develop capacity quickly in certain locations to enable it to deal with the urgency of the next six to nine months.
